Update 1:21pm Jan. 22, 2014
The fire weather watch for Lake and Mendocino Counties has been upgraded to red flag warnings which now includes Humboldt and Del Norte County. Also, fire weather watches are posted for Oregon. Unusual to say the least.
Update 1.50pm
Those fire weather watches for Humboldt, Del Norte and counties in Oregon have been updated to red flag warnings.
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Another winter day…Another red flag fire warning. It’s the same old story this year, cold front pushes up and over an overly dominant high pressure ridge, dives in to the Great Basin and creates an offshore wind gradient. The result? Strong gusty north easterly winds to 30mph, low relative humidity and extremely dry conditions in the hills of Sonoma and Napa County. The National Weather Service posted the warning this morning and will be relevant from 10pm (Wednesday) Jan. 22, through (Thursday) 3pm, Jan. 23 for the hills above 1,500 feet.
To top it off, Lake and Mendocino counties are under a fire weather watch and the coast is under a high surf advisory for breakers on west facing beaches over 20 feet by Thursday night.
-Kent Porter